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It is 1956 and East Germany is still five years away from the total isolation caused by the building of the Wall. In the wake of the violently quashed Hungarian Revolution against that country’s Soviet-dominated communist government, East German high-school students Theo (Leonard Scheicher) and Kurt (Tom Gramenz), having learned of the uprising while visiting the West, convince their classmates to observe a moment of silence in honour of the Hungarian dead. The repercussions arising from this quiet moment will change the lives of all involved… Based on a true story, Lars Kraume’s intelligent drama (English title: The Silent Revolution) is a timely reminder of how even the most seemingly innocent of gestures made under a repressive regime can take on an outsized political significance—and irrevocably alter the lives of those involved.

‘The Silent Revolution, also written by Kraume and adapted from the autobiographical book by Dietrich Garstka, deftly lays out the story’s complex socio-political and historical background. The differences between 1950s East and West Germany and between post-war Germany and the recent Nazi past all surface organically, with the writer-director impressively avoiding any kind of preachiness.’—Boyd van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter

For all screenings:
In 1953, their careers on the wane and unable to find work in Hollywood, the legendary comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy undertook a UK tour, offering up their ‘greatest hits’ in theatres throughout the country. Such is the backdrop for Jon S. Baird’s alternately hilarious and deeply moving paean to two icons who refused to go gentle into that good night. The great Steve Coogan (like Stan Laurel, born in Lancashire) plays Stan, ‘the skinny one’, with a brio and underlying intelligence that may surprise some as he handles the business side of their increasingly fraught tour, while John C. Reilly, caked in a ton of make-up, gives the ill and overweight Ollie depth and a deserved dignity. And the comedic shenanigans the duo perform to dwindling audiences still have the grace and timing to elicit big laughs—not to mention the sparkling interplay between their two wives, Lucille (Shirley Henderson) and Ida (Nina Arianda), who merit a film of their own. This is a charmer of a film, sure to elicit broad smiles from all who see it.

‘An irresistible homage to the iconic comedy duo… Stan & Ollie glows with respect and affection for its title characters, their long and loyal friendship and their immortal comic brilliance… Coogan and Reilly do an extremely difficult job extremely well, in that their versions of Laurel and Hardy are recognisable as the iconic clowns from the duo’s own films, but also convincing as rounded human beings.’—Nicholas Barber, BBC

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Written with panache by House of Cards mastermind Beau Willimon and rousingly directed by theatre veteran Josie Rourke, Mary Queen of Scots is a riveting 16th-century period piece focusing on the rivalry between England’s Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie) and the titular heir to the Scottish throne, here embodied by the magnificent Saoirse Ronan. With her crown and her very life under threat, Mary seeks protection from her cousin Elizabeth in the south—but the English queen is wary of Mary’s ambitions… Gorgeously photographed and filled with court intrigue, Rourke’s artful debut feature hums along at a breathless pace and never fails to entertain while bringing a fascinating slice of British history to vibrant life.

‘A note-perfect performance from [Saoirse Ronan], the three-time Oscar nominee, charges a darkly compelling [tale]… Rourke makes for an accomplished filmmaker, artfully crafting some stunning imagery and pacing her story like a thriller… The film’s most thrilling pleasure is a show-stopping lead performance from Ronan, who at 24 is quickly becoming one of the industry’s most consistently impressive young actors.’—Benjamin Lee, The Guardian

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Director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future) has always gone his own way relative to the rest of the Hollywood mainstream, so it comes as no surprise that his latest drama is a rich brew of the strange and idiosyncratic. Based on the true story of artist Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell), the film relates how Hogancamp dealt with extreme memory loss and personality changes (due to a severe beating) by creating a miniature Belgian town called Marwencol (here shortened to Marwen), populating it with action figures—and then photographing the characters in scenes from a WWII drama that existed only in his own head… Jumping back and forth between Hogancamp’s damaged reality and the motion-capture adventures of “Captain Hogie” (an eerily animated Carrel) and his all-woman band of Resistance fighters (played by Leslie Mann, Merritt Wever, Eiza González, Gwendoline Christie, Janelle Monáe, and Leslie Zemeckis), Zemeckis offers a unique, haunting, and ultimately uplifting take on how one man turned trauma into art.

‘Eccentric and touching… The VFX… comment on and commingle in provocative ways with Hogancamp's maladjusted existence. Zemeckis doesn't treat the live-action scenes like respite or filler; he uses them to illuminate the many ways in which his protagonist's dream life encroaches on his verisimilar terrors and trepidations… The story's knotty aspects reverberate under its… surface. In the guise of a glossy entertainment, Welcome to Marwen gets at some unnervingly irresolvable truths about humanity.’—Keith Uhlich, Hollywood Reporter

For all screenings:
It is 1956 and East Germany is still five years away from the total isolation caused by the building of the Wall. In the wake of the violently quashed Hungarian Revolution against that country’s Soviet-dominated communist government, East German high-school students Theo (Leonard Scheicher) and Kurt (Tom Gramenz), having learned of the uprising while visiting the West, convince their classmates to observe a moment of silence in honour of the Hungarian dead. The repercussions arising from this quiet moment will change the lives of all involved… Based on a true story, Lars Kraume’s intelligent drama (English title: The Silent Revolution) is a timely reminder of how even the most seemingly innocent of gestures made under a repressive regime can take on an outsized political significance—and irrevocably alter the lives of those involved.

‘The Silent Revolution, also written by Kraume and adapted from the autobiographical book by Dietrich Garstka, deftly lays out the story’s complex socio-political and historical background. The differences between 1950s East and West Germany and between post-war Germany and the recent Nazi past all surface organically, with the writer-director impressively avoiding any kind of preachiness.’—Boyd van Hoeij, Hollywood Reporter

For all screenings:
The sheer rock face known as El Capitan in California’s Yosemite Valley has been considered the ne plus ultra for ‘free solo’ rock climbers (‘free solo’ means climbing alone and without the benefit of any equipment except some chalk and a good pair of climbing shoes). At the heart of Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s documentary on their friend Alex Honnold’s attempt to be the first person to accomplish a free solo climb of El Capitan is a question that is at once both simple and profound: What drives Honnold—and, by extrapolation, anyone—to want to repeatedly risk life and limb in pursuit of a quixotic goal? Chin, a climber himself, and Chai Vasarhelyi delve deep into Honnold’s personality in the two-year lead up to the spectacular attempt, uncovering the multiple layers—some a bit disturbing—that comprise Honnold’s psyche. And the cinematography when Honnold finally takes to the rock face will literally leave you gasping. This is definitely a film that demands to be seen on the big screen.

‘This is daring, dangerous and dizzying stuff… The climbing cinematography by Chin and his team is vertiginous and literally breathtaking… But it’s the riddle of Honnold himself that drives the film. He’s a wryly funny and deeply intelligent character, and soon your heart will be in your mouth every time he trusts his life to a single toenail…’—Helen O‘Hara, Empire

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Greek enfant terrible Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) continues his dissection of the human condition with this blackly humorous period piece set in the sumptuous court of Queen Anne (as played, hilariously, by a rouge-cheeked Olivia Colman) in 18th-century England. As the semi-mad queen spends her days conducting duck races while her country is in the midst of war with France, her most trusted advisor, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (a wickedly good Rachel Weisz), and the Duchess’ new servant (Emma Stone) themselves go to war over just who will secure the role of queen’s favourite and, by proxy, exert control over the whole of England… Lanthimos, characteristically, turns the tropes of the period drama upside down, playing what would be taken deadly seriously by other directors for laughs, and delivering comic set-pieces with a solemnly straight face. Drawing comparisons to both Barry Lyndon, for Robbie Ryan’s gorgeous cinematography, and Marie Antoinette, for the way it reinvents the period piece for a modern audience, The Favourite continues Lanthimos’ ongoing quest to uphold the modernist creed and ‘make it new!’ The film captured the Special Grand Jury Prize and Best Actress award (for Colman) at the 2018 Venice Film Festival.
‘[Lanthimos’] fabulously entertaining tragicomedy… is a juicy power tangle connecting three women in the royal court of early 18th-century England, played by a divine trio that bounces off one another with obvious relish… In addition to its sumptuous visuals and delectable wit, this must-see [film]… offers a balanced triumvirate of formidable female leads rich in surprising character shadings.’—David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

For all screenings:
Written with panache by House of Cards mastermind Beau Willimon and rousingly directed by theatre veteran Josie Rourke, Mary Queen of Scots is a riveting 16th-century period piece focusing on the rivalry between England’s Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie) and the titular heir to the Scottish throne, here embodied by the magnificent Saoirse Ronan. With her crown and her very life under threat, Mary seeks protection from her cousin Elizabeth in the south—but the English queen is wary of Mary’s ambitions… Gorgeously photographed and filled with court intrigue, Rourke’s artful debut feature hums along at a breathless pace and never fails to entertain while bringing a fascinating slice of British history to vibrant life.

‘A note-perfect performance from [Saoirse Ronan], the three-time Oscar nominee, charges a darkly compelling [tale]… Rourke makes for an accomplished filmmaker, artfully crafting some stunning imagery and pacing her story like a thriller… The film’s most thrilling pleasure is a show-stopping lead performance from Ronan, who at 24 is quickly becoming one of the industry’s most consistently impressive young actors.’—Benjamin Lee, The Guardian

For all screenings:
In 1953, their careers on the wane and unable to find work in Hollywood, the legendary comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy undertook a UK tour, offering up their ‘greatest hits’ in theatres throughout the country. Such is the backdrop for Jon S. Baird’s alternately hilarious and deeply moving paean to two icons who refused to go gentle into that good night. The great Steve Coogan (like Stan Laurel, born in Lancashire) plays Stan, ‘the skinny one’, with a brio and underlying intelligence that may surprise some as he handles the business side of their increasingly fraught tour, while John C. Reilly, caked in a ton of make-up, gives the ill and overweight Ollie depth and a deserved dignity. And the comedic shenanigans the duo perform to dwindling audiences still have the grace and timing to elicit big laughs—not to mention the sparkling interplay between their two wives, Lucille (Shirley Henderson) and Ida (Nina Arianda), who merit a film of their own. This is a charmer of a film, sure to elicit broad smiles from all who see it.

‘An irresistible homage to the iconic comedy duo… Stan & Ollie glows with respect and affection for its title characters, their long and loyal friendship and their immortal comic brilliance… Coogan and Reilly do an extremely difficult job extremely well, in that their versions of Laurel and Hardy are recognisable as the iconic clowns from the duo’s own films, but also convincing as rounded human beings.’—Nicholas Barber, BBC

For all screenings:
Finally, it’s here! After waiting for almost ten years—that’s when rumours of the film first began circulating—fans of the legendary rock group Queen and its even more legendary frontman Freddie Mercury get the big-budget biopic they deserve. The main focus is on the life and times of lead singer Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara), and Rami Malek, the star of Mr. Robot, embodies the singer to an uncanny degree. Mercury first met guitarist Brian May (played here by Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) in 1970, while he was attending Ealing Art College in London. By July of that year, they were performing under the name Queen, at Mercury’s suggestion, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Bryan Singer’s dazzling film charts the early years—they didn’t become internationally famous until 1974—before thrusting us into the whirlwind lives of the megastars the group members became. Along the way, he slows down to detail the recording of what many consider to be the greatest pop single of all time, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, before culminating with the group’s show-stealing performance—spectacularly reproduced here—at the 1985 Live Aid concert, a greatest hits set that a 2005 music industry poll ranked as ‘the greatest rock performance of all time’. What a journey it was!

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